Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
by Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman
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INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A powerful and persuasive discussion about economics, freedom, and the relationship between the two, from today's brightest economist. In this classic discussion, Milton and Rose Friedman explain how our freedom has been eroded and our affluence undermined through the explosion of laws, regulations, agencies, and spending in Washington. This important analysis reveals what has gone wrong in America in the past and what is necessary for our economic health to flourish.Tags
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I decided to revisit Free to Choose almost four decades after first reading it because Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism strongly suggested that Milton Friedman, or at least the ideas and policies he championed, had some explaining to do.
At the time Free was published, several events recounted in Klein’s book already lay in the recent past. I wondered, did Free talk at all about them? If so, would it claim that the acts described in Shock were expressive of Free’s sunny capitalistic optimism? Worth finding out, I thought, since the events Klein described were less than sunny and more like extinction of national independence, more like deploying any means possible to achieve arguable goals, more show more like the dungeon of a violent medieval torturer laboring at behest of a capitalist cabal.
Now, I’ve long been influenced by what Free to Choose advocates because free market capitalism can be more dynamic, creative, and rewarding than the results of central economic planning. But I am appalled at what Klein catalogues in The Shock Doctrine.
In the Introduction to Free to Choose, Milton and Rose Friedman note that “Adam Smith’s key insight was that both parties to an exchange can benefit and that, so long as cooperation is strictly voluntary, no exchange will take place unless both parties do benefit. No external force, no coercion, no violation of that freedom is necessary to produce cooperation among individuals all of whom can benefit.” They go on to say that “The combination of economic and political power in the same hands is a sure recipe for tyranny.” A good warning.
However, the “shock doctrine” criticized by Klein violates “Adam Smith’s key insight” in the most extreme way by applying violence or its threat against all parties who do not want to cooperate. Instead of being “strictly voluntary,” it is strictly coercive. As the Friedmans write, “The armed robbers’ ‘Your money or your life’ offers me a choice, but no one would describe it as a free choice, or the subsequent exchange as voluntary.” Yet that is the effect of acts described in The Shock Doctrine. The purpose of the violations Klein reports are to lodge economic power with those who do the violating, or with corporate entities or plutocrats on whose behalf the violations are executed. It is not an ethos of cooperative benefit; it is an ethos to permit creating victims when asserting the will of the powerful. That Friedman and allied policy gurus have supported such measures is central to Klein’s book and must be part of the reckoning a concerned person undertakes.
As it happens, Free to Choose is not the right book with which to make that reckoning. It focuses on domestic economic issues rather more than the issues in other countries. While that made my second reading less fruitful than hoped, it remains a good book for understanding the Friedmans’ thought. Well presented, chatty rather than academic, the Friedmans seem like friendly if persistent relatives who just want you to understand their version of a better world. You could emerge from it a cheerleader for free market capitalism. If you do, I’d still urge that you attend to Naomi Klein’s assertions and the questions she raises. Does supporting free market capitalism in our own country require that we coercively interfere with economic decisions other countries make when pursuing their own aims, even if we think they could do better for themselves by doing what we want? Is that respecting the ideals of freedom? Of sovereignty? Of independence? Or peace? Can one simultaneously be for peace and for free markets in a corporatist world? If yes, how make it happen? Not, I’ll protest, by doing the horrific things described in The Shock Doctrine. show less
At the time Free was published, several events recounted in Klein’s book already lay in the recent past. I wondered, did Free talk at all about them? If so, would it claim that the acts described in Shock were expressive of Free’s sunny capitalistic optimism? Worth finding out, I thought, since the events Klein described were less than sunny and more like extinction of national independence, more like deploying any means possible to achieve arguable goals, more show more like the dungeon of a violent medieval torturer laboring at behest of a capitalist cabal.
Now, I’ve long been influenced by what Free to Choose advocates because free market capitalism can be more dynamic, creative, and rewarding than the results of central economic planning. But I am appalled at what Klein catalogues in The Shock Doctrine.
In the Introduction to Free to Choose, Milton and Rose Friedman note that “Adam Smith’s key insight was that both parties to an exchange can benefit and that, so long as cooperation is strictly voluntary, no exchange will take place unless both parties do benefit. No external force, no coercion, no violation of that freedom is necessary to produce cooperation among individuals all of whom can benefit.” They go on to say that “The combination of economic and political power in the same hands is a sure recipe for tyranny.” A good warning.
However, the “shock doctrine” criticized by Klein violates “Adam Smith’s key insight” in the most extreme way by applying violence or its threat against all parties who do not want to cooperate. Instead of being “strictly voluntary,” it is strictly coercive. As the Friedmans write, “The armed robbers’ ‘Your money or your life’ offers me a choice, but no one would describe it as a free choice, or the subsequent exchange as voluntary.” Yet that is the effect of acts described in The Shock Doctrine. The purpose of the violations Klein reports are to lodge economic power with those who do the violating, or with corporate entities or plutocrats on whose behalf the violations are executed. It is not an ethos of cooperative benefit; it is an ethos to permit creating victims when asserting the will of the powerful. That Friedman and allied policy gurus have supported such measures is central to Klein’s book and must be part of the reckoning a concerned person undertakes.
As it happens, Free to Choose is not the right book with which to make that reckoning. It focuses on domestic economic issues rather more than the issues in other countries. While that made my second reading less fruitful than hoped, it remains a good book for understanding the Friedmans’ thought. Well presented, chatty rather than academic, the Friedmans seem like friendly if persistent relatives who just want you to understand their version of a better world. You could emerge from it a cheerleader for free market capitalism. If you do, I’d still urge that you attend to Naomi Klein’s assertions and the questions she raises. Does supporting free market capitalism in our own country require that we coercively interfere with economic decisions other countries make when pursuing their own aims, even if we think they could do better for themselves by doing what we want? Is that respecting the ideals of freedom? Of sovereignty? Of independence? Or peace? Can one simultaneously be for peace and for free markets in a corporatist world? If yes, how make it happen? Not, I’ll protest, by doing the horrific things described in The Shock Doctrine. show less
This has been part of my self-education on the roots and vacillations of the American financial eco-system. I was amazed to learn how such "hot topics" as school vouchers, etc. were so well thought out and analyzed even in the time of this book. The indictment of our government-directed economy as drifting socialist and toward inflation was particularly enlightening.
These troubling economic times are making me go back and see what went wrong. The ideas of school vouchers and welfare reform, I had no idea they were so well-defined for so long! I long for real, small, unobtrusive government.
These troubling economic times are making me go back and see what went wrong. The ideas of school vouchers and welfare reform, I had no idea they were so well-defined for so long! I long for real, small, unobtrusive government.
I bought this book back in the "good old days" when you could purchase a hardcover book for less than ten dollars. Due to the inflationary policies that Milton Friedman warns about, and that he provides a cure for, a comparable book today carries a price tag more than double the price of the book I purchased. It was a good investment.
In the book, Milton Friedman and his wife discuss the principles of the Free Market. It is this discussion, based on the foundation laid earlier in Capitalism and Freedom, that underscores the tyranny of unlimited government. They discuss lessons that we have not learned and taken to heart, for if we had done so we would not be facing the debt crisis of the Twenty-first century. I would only question the show more author's optimism. He titled the last chapter "The Tide is Turning" and it may have done so, if only slightly, in some Western European countries. But the level of economic control and bureaucratic bullying has only grown worse in the United States over the last thirty years. Fortunately, the principles discussed in Free to Choose are timeless and we can turn or return to them at any time. We only have to choose freedom. show less
In the book, Milton Friedman and his wife discuss the principles of the Free Market. It is this discussion, based on the foundation laid earlier in Capitalism and Freedom, that underscores the tyranny of unlimited government. They discuss lessons that we have not learned and taken to heart, for if we had done so we would not be facing the debt crisis of the Twenty-first century. I would only question the show more author's optimism. He titled the last chapter "The Tide is Turning" and it may have done so, if only slightly, in some Western European countries. But the level of economic control and bureaucratic bullying has only grown worse in the United States over the last thirty years. Fortunately, the principles discussed in Free to Choose are timeless and we can turn or return to them at any time. We only have to choose freedom. show less
This book published in 1979 by a Nobel-Prize-winning economist and his wife is still relevant (and in print) over 30 years later. The Preface tells us the book had "two parents;" Friedman's 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom where he argued free markets make for free societies, and the ten-part 1980 PBS TV series Free to Choose. (The ten episodes of the series are mirrored in the ten chapters of the book.) The book based on the series is "less abstract and more concrete." Having read the first book, I can testify to that, although there is such significant overlap I had a strong sense of déjà vu. But I also think the necessity of putting this material into documentary form helped hone and simplify their arguments. This is an extremely show more readable book--the New York Times Book Review called it "noteworthy for its clarity, logic, candor and unequivocating stand on political implications." The book "examines specific issues--among others, monetary and fiscal policy, the role of government in education, capitalism and discrimination, and the alleviation of poverty."
Friedman, who like Hayek, another darling of the right, considered himself a liberal, may surprise readers aware of his reputation. The suggestions on policy are thought-provoking and don't necessarily fit with what people think of as conservative orthodoxy. The Friedmans suggest vouchers as a solution for the woes of public education, "equity investment" as one alternative to high-interest student loans for higher education, an "effluent tax" as one way to deter pollution and a "negative income tax" as an alternative to welfare programs. They're thought-provoking to the end, down to their two appendices: Appendix A, the 1928 Socialist Party Platform, almost all of which has become law in America, and Appendix B, a proposal for a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to curb spending. Friedman's ideas still strike me as innovative and fresh. And whatever you might think of those ideas, it's also striking to me how well he and his wife get them across. show less
Friedman, who like Hayek, another darling of the right, considered himself a liberal, may surprise readers aware of his reputation. The suggestions on policy are thought-provoking and don't necessarily fit with what people think of as conservative orthodoxy. The Friedmans suggest vouchers as a solution for the woes of public education, "equity investment" as one alternative to high-interest student loans for higher education, an "effluent tax" as one way to deter pollution and a "negative income tax" as an alternative to welfare programs. They're thought-provoking to the end, down to their two appendices: Appendix A, the 1928 Socialist Party Platform, almost all of which has become law in America, and Appendix B, a proposal for a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to curb spending. Friedman's ideas still strike me as innovative and fresh. And whatever you might think of those ideas, it's also striking to me how well he and his wife get them across. show less
I saw reruns of the PBS special in my youth, and read around it in my twenties, watching it again on YouTube. Finally, to sit down and read the companion book properly, was a treat. Such simple economic matters, explained in such a simple manner. It is sad that, despite the forty-five years since this book came out, that the book is still so relevant and still so needed.
A very effective conveyance of the meaning of free market economics and its value to the consumer. The opening quote is from Justice Louis Brandeis' opinion in Olmstead v. United States: "Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."
I like how Friedman shows the numerous restraints and how, individually they seem petty, but in aggregate our quite a net. He mentions that at the time of writing, all cars had to have seat belts but no one was -- yet -- show more required to wear them. Another idea the Friedman brings out is that socialism has moved from controlling the means of production to controlling the result directly. He also shows how the income tax system is even more regressive than I formerly thought. The social security tax has a cap. Moreover, the poor start working at a younger age, work to an older age, and have a short life expectancy during which to enjoy the same result. No example is more effective to me than that of the railroads and the ICC. The railroads came under regulation because activists saw their monopoly power. Satisfied of the regulation, they moved on to other causes while the railroads put lobbyists and "revolving door" consultants in the regulatory positions. The same cycle appeared with the advent of trucking, leading to solutions like extremely expensive ICC certificates and rate "problems" being solved by raising long-haul to match short-haul rates. show less
I like how Friedman shows the numerous restraints and how, individually they seem petty, but in aggregate our quite a net. He mentions that at the time of writing, all cars had to have seat belts but no one was -- yet -- show more required to wear them. Another idea the Friedman brings out is that socialism has moved from controlling the means of production to controlling the result directly. He also shows how the income tax system is even more regressive than I formerly thought. The social security tax has a cap. Moreover, the poor start working at a younger age, work to an older age, and have a short life expectancy during which to enjoy the same result. No example is more effective to me than that of the railroads and the ICC. The railroads came under regulation because activists saw their monopoly power. Satisfied of the regulation, they moved on to other causes while the railroads put lobbyists and "revolving door" consultants in the regulatory positions. The same cycle appeared with the advent of trucking, leading to solutions like extremely expensive ICC certificates and rate "problems" being solved by raising long-haul to match short-haul rates. show less
Every once in a while a book crystallises a world view. Free To Choose has a good claim in this respect arriving as it did in 1980 . It's a clear exposition of the free market economics that influenced Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, leading to one of the greatest economic booms in history and arguably spelling the end of communist power.
Milton Friedman is a Nobel prize-winning economist, winning the prize in recognition of his work on the money supply and inflation. However the main (and more important) theme of Free To Choose is a critical look at the road that the free market idea has travelled since it's first clear presentation in 1776 by Adam Smith in the remarkable book, The Wealth of Nations.
To quote Friedman on the power show more of the free market idea, "if an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will not take place unless both believe that they will benefit from it" or "the price system is the mechanism that performs this task without central direction, without requiring people to speak to one another or to like one another. When you buy your pencil or your daily bread, you don't know whether the pencil was made or the wheat was grown by a white man or a black man, by a Chinese or an Indian. As a result, the price system enables people to co-operate peacefully in one phase of their life while each one goes about his business in respect of everything else."
When this concept is repeated millions of times one has a flexible evolving system that can meet peoples needs in a way that no top-down planned price and production system can hope to match. Is this stating the obvious? - Well it seems not . Friedman uses the greater part of the book to show how the free market idea has been under attack, often in the places where it has generated the greatest wealth in the past.
One way or another government comes into the picture and the reader enters a strange Orwellian world of double-talk where "for your own good" means "for our own good" and "we" are "you".
As democratic governments respond to the question "What are you going to do about it?" without having a clear idea about what is their responsibility, and what isn't , the need for government departments, institutions, committees, etc. continues to grow, adding more leaves and branches to the tree. If one doubts the reality of the growth of government, a good recent survey of the world economy ( by Clive Crook in The Economist 20th Sept.97) gives figures that support Friedmans observations:
U.S.Government spending as % of GNP
1913 3%
1937 9%
1960 28%
1996 33%
Crook notes that this is after the pro-market anti-big government rhetoric of Thatcher and Reagan. In the U.S. government spending remained unchanged, in the UK it only fell 1% as a result the new philosophy and everywhere else it continues to rise reaching for example 55% in France last year and 65% in Sweden.
The unstated assumption is that somehow governments can undertake activities more successfully than individuals in the new areas that they enter - an idea that Friedman comprehensively shows to be false.
At the end of the book he offers an interesting set of suggestions based around an "economic constitution" and highlights market solutions to government only areas. Nevertheless his own solutions seem to create a problem of their own that he doesn't address at all, namely - "pay enough and you can do what you want" whether this is polluting a lake or limiting quality of education to what you can pay for.
Even if the reader isn't particularly interested in economics this is an exceptionally worthwhile book. show less
Milton Friedman is a Nobel prize-winning economist, winning the prize in recognition of his work on the money supply and inflation. However the main (and more important) theme of Free To Choose is a critical look at the road that the free market idea has travelled since it's first clear presentation in 1776 by Adam Smith in the remarkable book, The Wealth of Nations.
To quote Friedman on the power show more of the free market idea, "if an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will not take place unless both believe that they will benefit from it" or "the price system is the mechanism that performs this task without central direction, without requiring people to speak to one another or to like one another. When you buy your pencil or your daily bread, you don't know whether the pencil was made or the wheat was grown by a white man or a black man, by a Chinese or an Indian. As a result, the price system enables people to co-operate peacefully in one phase of their life while each one goes about his business in respect of everything else."
When this concept is repeated millions of times one has a flexible evolving system that can meet peoples needs in a way that no top-down planned price and production system can hope to match. Is this stating the obvious? - Well it seems not . Friedman uses the greater part of the book to show how the free market idea has been under attack, often in the places where it has generated the greatest wealth in the past.
One way or another government comes into the picture and the reader enters a strange Orwellian world of double-talk where "for your own good" means "for our own good" and "we" are "you".
As democratic governments respond to the question "What are you going to do about it?" without having a clear idea about what is their responsibility, and what isn't , the need for government departments, institutions, committees, etc. continues to grow, adding more leaves and branches to the tree. If one doubts the reality of the growth of government, a good recent survey of the world economy ( by Clive Crook in The Economist 20th Sept.97) gives figures that support Friedmans observations:
U.S.Government spending as % of GNP
1913 3%
1937 9%
1960 28%
1996 33%
Crook notes that this is after the pro-market anti-big government rhetoric of Thatcher and Reagan. In the U.S. government spending remained unchanged, in the UK it only fell 1% as a result the new philosophy and everywhere else it continues to rise reaching for example 55% in France last year and 65% in Sweden.
The unstated assumption is that somehow governments can undertake activities more successfully than individuals in the new areas that they enter - an idea that Friedman comprehensively shows to be false.
At the end of the book he offers an interesting set of suggestions based around an "economic constitution" and highlights market solutions to government only areas. Nevertheless his own solutions seem to create a problem of their own that he doesn't address at all, namely - "pay enough and you can do what you want" whether this is polluting a lake or limiting quality of education to what you can pay for.
Even if the reader isn't particularly interested in economics this is an exceptionally worthwhile book. show less
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Milton Friedman (1912-2006), Nobel Prize winner for excellence in economics, was a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the Paul Snowden Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago. His many published books include Essays in Positive Economics, Monetary Trends in the show more United States and the United Kingdom, and Milton Friedman on Economics, all published by the University of Chicago Press. show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Aan ons de keus
- Original title
- Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
- Original publication date
- 1980
- Related movies
- Free to Choose (1980 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The great... (show all)est dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. -- Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 479 (1928)
- Dedication
- To Ricky and Patri
- First words
- Every day each of us uses innumerable goods and services--to eat, to wear, to shelter us from the elements, or simply to enjoy.
Introduction: Ever since the first settlement of Europeans in the New World--at Jamestown in 1607 and at Plymouth in 1620--America has been a magnet for people seeking adventure, fleeing from tyranny, or simply trying to make... (show all) a better life for themselves and their children.
Preface: This book has two parents: Capitalism and Freedom, our earlier book, buplished in 1962; and a TV series, titled, like the book, "Free to Choose." - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Fortunately, also, we are as a people still free to choose which way we should go--whether to continue along the road we have been following to ever bigger government, or to call a halt and change direction.
- Blurbers
- Reagan, Ronald
- Original language*
- Inglés
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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